Council has crowded meeting agenda

ISHPEMING – The Ishpeming City Council has a variety of agenda items for its meeting today.

The council meets at 7 p.m. at the Ishpeming Senior Center.

The council is schedule to consider a proposal for an expansion of Partridge Creek Farm. The farm is a garden on city property that abuts the snowmobile trail on the north side of the Seventh Addition plat, near where Partridge Creek emerges from the ground. The goal of the proposal is to create a non-profit organization overseeing the site to sustain large greenhouses, a community center, an office and an equipment barn.

If approved, Michigan State University, the Marquette Food Co-op, Ishpeming’s Rare Earth Goods and the city of Ishpeming will work together to “provide a working model of a larger scale greenhouse facility,” according to the proposal.

The proposal calls for construction of greenhouses which incorporate passive house engineering that require little supplemental heat while extending the growing season to 10 months.

Another agenda item involves the approval of a sewer and water utility rate analysis by GEI Consultants of Michigan Inc. The analysis, at a cost not to exceed $6,400, will develop at least three sewer and water utility rate options to meet revenue goals, according to the proposal.

Decreasing revenues in the water and sewer funds and increasing expenses operating the system were cited as contributing to financial woes the city is experiencing that were discussed at a special council meeting Friday.

The council is also expected to discuss a request from the Upper Peninsula Power Co. right-of-way easement on city property. The easement will give UPPCO a 50-foot right of way near Malton Road in Ishpeming that will run from UPPCO’s Mather A substation to its Mather B substation in Negaunee.

In addition, the city will review a request for funding from the Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team. UPSET is comprised of officers from the Michigan State Police, the Sheriff’s offices in Delta and Marquette counties, city police from Escanaba, Marquette and Menominee, and federal officers from several agencies.

The council is also scheduled to consider approval of submission of an Assistance to Firefighters grant application from the Ishpeming City Fire Department to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grant would replace the fire department’s fire hoses and nozzles at a cost of $34,225, of which the city would be required to pay 5 percent of the cost, or $1,712.